Arrays

We have been learning a lot about arrays – how to make them, how to use them to add and to multiply.  We’ve even made array cities and played a game using dice to give us the dimensions of an array.  The game went like this:

–  We worked with a partner and some 1cm grid paper.
–  First, one person rolled both dice.  The numbers on the dice gave us the sides of the array.  So if the dice read 2 and 6, we made an array with 2 rows and 6 columns (or the other way around).  Then we wrote the total number of squares onto the array.
–  Then it was the other person’s turn.
–  We kept doing this until there was no more room on the grid paper to draw an array.  Then we used calculators to add up all the totals to see who won.

You can see us playing this game on the video below.

This slide show shows the arrays that we made and our array cities.  For both these activities, we wrote the related addition and multiplication number sentences.